shah82 wrote:but used foil lined paper bags with ziploc to store most of my oolongs, and this tends to keep them suitable fresh for a long time, if not improve as well.

Hi, would that method work for ageing oolongs, let's say 20+ years?

Cheers!

I am conducting an expirement about this matter. Among the numerous traditional way of storing tea, I am refining my oolong in quantity of 100/150 grams in mylar bags, heat sealed but not vacuum sealed (thickness of 5.1 mm) with oxygen absorbers and desiccant bought in factory sealed bags, in such quantities to guarantee me percentages of oxygen less than 1% and percentages of relative humidity less than 0.1%.I think this is a good method to age for some time (1 to 7/10 years) oolong tea .. but only time will tell me how is going the refinement.

I have a couple of kilos of TGY stored in 1 kg pack sealed but not vacumn in food safe plastic and they aged well since late 90s. The brew is clean, sweet and mellow. The type is the semi rolled semi ball shape TGY. Seems to work for me that way. I think in most cases sealing them in tin or bag or vacumn will do justice to the storage. Vacuuming for longer period may work too but I haven't try it before. Now I am vacuuming the older stored tea..... Not only for oolong but for those dry stored very aged Puer too.

It just the way I do it, may or may not be the best way but works well so far after a few decades.

William wrote:I am conducting an expirement about this matter. Among the numerous traditional way of storing tea, I am refining my oolong in quantity of 100/150 grams in mylar bags, heat sealed but not vacuum sealed (thickness of 5.1 mm) with oxygen absorbers and desiccant bought in factory sealed bags, in such quantities to guarantee me percentages of oxygen less than 1% and percentages of relative humidity less than 0.1%.I think this is a good method to age for some time (1 to 7/10 years) oolong tea .. but only time will tell me how is going the refinement.

What is the difference between heat sealing and vacuum sealing? I have never used any of these devices myself, so am unfamiliar with the sealing process.

Teaism wrote:I have a couple of kilos of TGY stored in 1 kg pack sealed but not vacumn in food safe plastic and they aged well since late 90s. The brew is clean, sweet and mellow.

Congratulations for your patience!

teaskeptic wrote:

William wrote:I am conducting an expirement about this matter. Among the numerous traditional way of storing tea, I am refining my oolong in quantity of 100/150 grams in mylar bags, heat sealed but not vacuum sealed (thickness of 5.1 mm) with oxygen absorbers and desiccant bought in factory sealed bags, in such quantities to guarantee me percentages of oxygen less than 1% and percentages of relative humidity less than 0.1%.I think this is a good method to age for some time (1 to 7/10 years) oolong tea .. but only time will tell me how is going the refinement.

What is the difference between heat sealing and vacuum sealing? I have never used any of these devices myself, so am unfamiliar with the sealing process.

Well, if in both cases there are oxygen absorbers and desiccant that were purchased in factory sealed bags, the only factor that varies is the amount of nitrogen present naturally in the air (78%), which will increase to 99,X % due to the oxygen absorbers placed inside the bag.

In my opinion, a higher amount of nitrogen is an important factor for a balanced maturation of tea, hence my decision to not put the tea under vacuum condition, but just sealed.

These are merely personal opinions, only time will tell me if I'm right.

Teaism wrote:Now I am vacuuming the older stored tea..... Not only for oolong but for those dry stored very aged Puer too.

Why are you vacuum sealing dry old puerh? Are you hoping for it to continue to age or are you trying to just preserve its current state?

It is OT here but I will add more info in one post without going further on this tread. Those Puer are iconic tea which aged 20-50 years and they have been well stored and aged to perfection. I would not want to take any risk and like them perfectly so I vacuum all these tea. Occasionally I will open a piece to take enough for a brew and then vacuum it again. They will still age but slower and kept in pristine condition. Well, if there is chance to experience these tea, then the understanding can be achieved.

Nice experiment, but I do not understand why use two different terms of comparison. A - The oolong stored in the original foil (without vacuum seal), which are 99% of poor quality, as they do not block UV rays and protect not enough leaves to daily changes in temperature. From what I understand this oolong has been exposed to moisture, UV light, and oxygen.B - The oolong stored in jar, more or less airtight, surely protected from UV rays, while for humidity and oxygen, exposed roughly to the same amount of the foil bag.

So what has been shown? In my opinion nothing, because the variables are too many to conclude that an aging method is better than another.

Something that might be interesting is to test bag of good quality (quite thick and made ​​of good materials) and jars of good quality, perhaps glazed and unglazed, with the same tea, same time, same variables in terms of oxygen, UV rays and humidity, all reducible to almost zero thanks to the various instruments available on the market. This will make possible to compare the various methods of aging, for example showing which method best preserves the aroma of the oolong or permits to refine the body in a better way.

From my experience, the difference between keeping a tea in a foil bag and putting it into a ceramic container is big. In fact, the first thing I do routinely, when I get a new tea, is take it out of the bag/pouch and into a container. Why does this improve the tea's flavor and aroma? I would only be guessing, but it's apparent. I have no way of knowing if it's the humidity, oxygen, or whatever that is making the difference. But, I do know it works.

Tead Off wrote:From my experience, the difference between keeping a tea in a foil bag and putting it into a ceramic container is big. In fact, the first thing I do routinely, when I get a new tea, is take it out of the bag/pouch and into a container. Why does this improve the tea's flavor and aroma? I would only be guessing, but it's apparent. I have no way of knowing if it's the humidity, oxygen, or whatever that is making the difference. But, I do know it works.

You do this in order to drink the oolong within a short period of time, not for a long term storage, right?

shah82 wrote:Metal foil is opaque to UV. Perhaps you're talking about the heating that results?

I am talking about foil bags that most of the vendors use to send oolong to customer, often vacuum sealed; most of them are more or less opaque, but not enough to totally block UV.